A Minor Justice
by Scriptophobic
Summary: AU fic. 23, future 1x2x1. Career criminals, hit men, murder, violence and unlikely friendships.
1. Prologue

Title: A Minor Justice  
Author: Scriptophobic  
Pairings: Mild 23, Future 1x2x1  
Warnings: AU, Violence, Language, Future sexual situations  
Note: I warn all of you that the Trowa and Duo in this may be viewed as OOC because they are somewhat ruthless and violent. Not in the "i will abuse my spouse way", but in the somewhat cold killer way. Other than that I've kept their attitudes the same. If you can't deal that, don't read. I have warned.  
Disclaimers: I don't own anything. Blah blah.

**Prologue**

"Shit."

The girl stared at the two men in horror as she clutched the doorframe with white knuckled hands. She was a pretty young thing of about 15 with long black hair and distinctive Japanese features. "I-I-I--" She stared at the butchered bodies of her parents and her sentence ended with a low, keening wail.

"For the love of--" The shorter of the two grabbed her by the hair and yanked her further into the room before shoving her on the floor.

"I told you! I damn well told you not to--"

"She's not supposed to be here," The shorter one snapped moodily. "Don't blame me because you fucked up the recon."

The taller man shot him an annoyed glare and sat down on the bed next to her mother's body. "If you hadn't gone poking around we would have been in and out already and she never would have known we were here," He shot back.

"You know I like taking souvenirs," the small one pouted. He studied the girl with a calculating gleam in his eyes. "What are you doing here, girl? You're screwing up the works! I thought you Japanese people were all scholarly and never skipped school."

The girl couldn't tear her eyes away from her mother's bloody chest. "I--I--"

"You--you," the small one mocked.

"I was sick! I--" Her eyes filled with tears and her voice cracked. "You killed them!"

"Well give that girl a gold star!" The small one rolled his eyes and turned his back on her to look at his partner expectantly.

"You got us into this mess so don't expect me to fix it," He snapped.

"Oh for crying out loud, it's just one lousy girl! It's not a big damn deal! We do her and get out just like we planned!"

"She wasn't even a part of the contract," The tall one complained.

"You are such a bleeding heart," The other one grumbled. He paused and looked at the bloody body stretched out on the bed before snickering almost hysterically. "Actually I guess she is, isn't she?"

"Your wit is just astounding today," The tall one said dryly.

"Geez you have no sense of humor lately." The short one pulled a gun out from under his black flak jacket and turned towards the girl. "Okay sweetie it's time for nighty nig-- What do you think you're doing?"

The girl froze and dropped her arm as she tried to hide the cell phone she was clutching. "N-No! Please don--" She was silenced by a bullet in the head; the shot muffled by a silencer.

"Did she really think calling the cops would help?" The tall one muttered with a shake of his head. He hated unexpected complications. It made him moody.

"Maybe she was planning to stall us with her feminine wiles until they got here?" The short one suggested as he wandered over to the father's body and yanked his knife from the man's chest. "It always works in those Lifetime movies," He went on as he wiped it on the dead man's sports jacket.

The tall one shook his head and stood up. "You're a real card."

"I take that as a compliment," The short one retorted with a sweet smile. "Now can I finish my pillaging? They have some neat stuff in here! I hope we get contracts on rich Japanese engineers more often." He shoved his knife back in the sheaf in his boot and practically skipped out of the room. The tall one rolled his eyes and followed him out. There was no point in arguing; he always got what he wanted anyway.

Chang Wufei surveyed the crime scene impassively as the officers scurried around the room gathering evidence. The three bodies were easily recognizable. Head of the engineering department at Mashimoto Electronics; Yamanashi Taro, his wife Oki and their teenaged daughter, Myoko. All three were shot execution style in the head but the husband and wife, the suspected targets, had the signature carved up chests.

"Think these are the latest of our perps?" Sally Po asked as she bent over Oki's body and frowned.

"I'd say so," Wufei replied as he stopped in front of Myoko's body and kneeled down. "No signs of forced entry, no signs of a struggle, single gunshot wound to the head and the carved X across two of the victim's chests. Then of course there's the random anonymous tip." He pulled on a rubber glove.

"There's no carving on the girl," Sally pointed out as she pulled a single strand of long, light brown hair from Oki's black tresses. She raised an eyebrow and put it in a plastic baggy. "If these are our guys, this is a little different from their usual style. On the Ricken case they offed the couple and left the kids still sleeping downstairs."

Wufei made an agreeable sound and pulled a small device from the girl's stiff fingers. It was a tiny, pink cell phone that looked very much like a toy. "I don't think they were expecting the girl to be home," He murmured as he scraped dried blood off of the phone's screen.

Sally raised an eyebrow and went over to study her find in the light. "You're right. The tip came in two hours after the murders. She should have been in school." She frowned and noted the length of the hair. "One of our guys might actually be a girl." After a moment of silence on Wufei's end, she looked up. "What's wrong?"

Wufei looked up with an expression that was a cross between exhilaration and shock. "Oh I have no doubts that our perps are both men." He looked down at the phone again and his eyes lit up. "Just a guy with extremely long hair."

Sally froze for a moment before scrambling across the room. She looked over Wufei's shoulder and sucked in a breath. "Holy shit."

"It seems Myoko managed to take a couple of pictures of her parent's killers before they did her in," Wufei said as he silently praised whatever genius invented camera phones. He flipped through the three most recent pictures and shook his head. The girl had to have had some guts to think of something like this while her parent's murderers were standing a few feet away.

The pictures were small but were color and had surprisingly good quality. The first showed two men; one was facing away from Myoko but a long braid was visible running down his back. He didn't look much taller than 5'6, was very slender and appeared to have been gesturing wildly with his hands, judging from the blur. The other man was facing him and sitting on the bed next to Oki's body. He looked maybe 6 feet tall judging by the length of his legs and half of his face was blocked by overly long bangs. Both men appeared to be Caucasian, mid to early twenties and exceptionally attractive. The other two pictures were sloppy close up shots of each man's face. They were blurry and a little distorted but it was the biggest damn break they'd had in this case so far.

"I hate to say it," Sally breathed. "But we're fortunate that Myoko stayed home today."

Wufei looked at the girl's body and shook his head. "I hate to agree, but you're right." Sixteen reported murders in the past two years, all upper echelons of society, all shot execution style and all with carvings on the chest. They hadn't had any suspects or any real clues, only a calling card; the carved X on the chest. But now... now they had faces and now they could do their jobs and stop waiting around for someone else to be killed.


	2. Chapter One

Title: A Minor Justice  
Author: Scriptophobic  
Pairing: This part, none  
Warnings: Language, violence  
Note: Edited but not beta'd  
Disclaimer: I don't own stuff.

**Chapter 1**

Heero Yuy's apartment was really not much more than a studio even though it had been listed as a "charming one bedroom with a view". In reality, the "view" was of a bunch of buildings which didn't matter anyway since he almost never opened the blinds and the "bedroom" was the size of a pantry and was now being used as a storage closet for computer hardware and various other pieces of electronics. His bed was the only real piece of furniture in the apartment aside from his desk and a small entertainment center with his TV and various video game consoles.

He had two computers (a PC and a laptop. the PC was used for storage purposes) and no telephone. The only people who contacted him were potential clients and all correspondence was done through e-mail, so having a phone bill was unnecessary when he had wireless internet access.

Heero stretched out on his bed and popped a chip into his mouth as he stared at his laptop intently. Techno music blasted through his ear phones as he casually went about ruining his rival's livelihood. Well perhaps "rival" was too strong of a word. Heero's programming skills were far superior and Clarence Dayborn didn't even have an inkling of hacking experience outside of bullshit proggies that he downloaded off of script kiddy websites. Unfortunately both of them were freelance web developers and for the past couple of months all of Heero's clients had been switching over to Clarence because they apparently decided that being thrifty was more important than getting quality work.

Heero hadn't really batted an eyelash at first because there were always other corporate giants willing to spend obscene amounts of money to outsource the creation of a website but that was before Clarence had foolishly decided to gloat. If it was one thing Heero hated, it was a third rate programmer with an ego the size of Quatre Winner's bank account.

There were two things that really went hand in hand with being a hacker and those were ego and the irresistible urge to play with fire even after you've already been burned. Heero's ego wasn't as inflated as it could have been but he definitely didn't tolerate being talked down to by someone who didn't even understand the concept of PHP. Despite his past brushes with the law, he didn't stop himself from effectively destroying every project Clarence had ever worked on and reconfiguring the net access on his computer so that he wasn't able to log on at all. He may have dropped a virus or two as well.

He was in the process of successively turning another one of Clarence's projects to shit (a website he'd done for the Church of Christ Scientist that Heero was now turning into a porn site that focused on scat and golden showers) when the timer on his watch went off. He made a face and took off the headphones as he slid out of bed; leaving the laptop running so that he could continue uploading the appropriate files into the website's server. He'd set the timer because he actually had to leave the house today and if there wasn't something around to remind him, he'd completely lose track of the time like he usually did and not get to the bank on time; which had been the case for the past three days. He would have preferred to never leave the house or see the light of day but unfortunately he couldn't magically make money appear out of thin air and there was no ATM anywhere near his building so he had to make the journey to Lendholm Trust and Save.

Heero pulled on a pair of black cargo pants and his black binary t-shirt before putting the headphones back on as he glanced in the mirror. His hair was a mess, he had dark circles under his eyes and he was pale as all hell due to lack of sun. "You look like shit," he told his reflection with a snort. Strangely his reflection had no reply. He shook his head and grabbed his wallet before heading out the door.

-------

"You're looking lovely as usual, Relena. Is something different?" Quatre Raberba Winner watched as his long time friend settled herself down in the limo and crossed her legs at the knee.

"Oh so something has to be different in order for me to look lovely?" She teased as she gave him a peck on the cheek. He opened his mouth to protest but she waved it off and brushed at material of her dress. "I let my sister-in-law talk me into wearing something more 'lady like' for our little lunch date," She replied with a sniff of disdain. "I don't see how anyone wears silk. It wrinkles ridiculously easy."

Quatre laughed and glanced out the window as his driver pulled away from house and headed towards the gates of the Peacecraft estate. "Since when does Lucrezia care about you looking lady like?"

"Since my brother started teasing me about how I would never find a 'young man' if I kept on with my pant suits and turtle necks. Lucrezia has apparently decided to make it her business to find me a husband while Milliardo is doing business in the colonies." She studied her nails and wrinkled her nose. "They seem to think you are quite a catch."

"Yes but do they know that I'm a homosexual catch?" Quatre asked with barely contained laughter.

"I think they're mentally blocking that part out," she replied dryly. "Anyway, I'm starving. What do you say we go to Ivy's for a steak? I'm feeling a little anemic today."

"Actually I was thinking we'd go to Tea Box unless of course you want me to go to Ivy's and eat soup and a salad like I'm on some diet."

"Ugh, remind me why I even go out to eat with you? You can't eat _anything_ from _anywhere_ I like to go," She complained.

"Well blame the restaurant bureaucrats who refuse to attach a Halal side menu even though there are Kosher dishes in every single eatery in this damned country," Quatre retorted. "All I ever get to eat is seafood and salads."

"Well you're a bureaucrat; do something about it." Relena frowned at her stockings and scratched her thigh irritably; they made her itch.

"Winner Enterprises doesn't really deal with the restaurant business," He replied dryly.

"Well maybe you ought to then. Make the world a better place for Muslims everywhere!"

Quatre rolled his eyes and waved off her comment. "That reminds me..." He leaned forward and rolled down the partition window. "We're making a stop at Lendholm Trust and Save and then to Tea Box," He told the driver.

"Short on cash?"

"Oh, please. I want to make a deposit before I do anything else today. If I don't do it now I'll forget and the check will sit in my pocket until Miranda finds it when she takes it out to the dry cleaners. It seems like I can't do anything without my assistant reminding me anymore."

"It's probably stress," Relena said sympathetically. "You need a vacation, Quatre. Between my schedule and yours it's amazing that we even found time to have lunch today. Just promise me that starting now you're going to take it easy. No more running on three hours of sleep and skipping meals. I worry about you, you know."

"It's hard to worry about sleeping and eating with my father being sick and all of his executive duties being left up to me." Quatre rubbed his forehead and sighed. "I wish my sisters would take a hand in helping out but he seems totally against the idea and they don't want to go against his wishes when it seems like he's on his deathbed."

Relena tsked and shook her head. "He's an old chauvinist, is what he is."

"No... he's just old fashioned." Quatre shrugged.

"Well whatever the case may be, we all know that he isn't going anywhere anytime soon and that soon some of the weight will be lifted off your shoulders and when that happens I want you to take a vacation."

"But--"

"Don't argue with me! I'm a politician. You won't win."

Quatre grinned and sat back in the seat. "What would I do without you here to boss me around?"

"You'd wait for one of your sisters to do it," She replied dryly.

"You know, it's sad but you're probably right," Quatre admitted sheepishly. He squeezed Relena's hand and gave her a genuine smile. Sometimes he wished things had turned out differently because if he had been born heterosexual... Well, he and Relena would have made a perfect match.

-----

"We're screwed."

"No, no we're not. I don't want to hear that defeatist attitude from you," Duo chastised as he sucked on his cigarette and peeked out the loft's window.

"Should I say it in a more cheerful tone?" Trowa asked dryly as he crossed his arms over his chest and stared at the television. "Apparently we're serial killers now," He said with a snort. "You and your artistic butchery."

"It's not like they minded," Duo replied as he turned away from the window. "They were already dead. And don't go trying to blame me for any of this shit. If you hadn't acted like a pansy and made me hesitate, I would have shot her before she had the chance to get all clever with her camera phone." He shook his head and tucked his braid under his jacket. "As long as we get back to space, we should be cool. We can get lost on L2--" He snapped his fingers. "--Like that."

"He's going to be pissed."

"Fuck him, okay? He's lucky we're even doing his fucking dirty work." Duo put out his cigarette and pulled a black baseball cap low over his eyes. "We're gonna need money if we're gonna get off this stupid rock. You know those Spacers won't turn the other cheek unless the price is right."

Trowa grunted and stared at the blurry image of Duo's face on the television screen. "It's not a good idea for you to be going out."

"Fuck a good idea, we need some cash or we WILL be screwed. I know a guy downtown who can hook me up with a few Gs. If I´m not back in a few hours, get the cruiser and get the hell out of dodge."

Trowa looked over his shoulder at Duo for a long moment before sighing and offering a one shouldered shrug. "Be careful, Maxwell. No fireworks and no killing anyone, got it?"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Duo muttered and hurried out the door before his partner could shoot off anymore orders. He and Trowa had a good thing going and he didn't want to screw it up by going against him too often, but at the same time he felt like Trowa was cramping his style. He liked fireworks, damn it. He grumbled under his breath and hopped in "their" van; starting it up and roaring down the street.

His plan was simple; get in, get out and cause as little damage as possible because there was no way in hell he was getting out of there with a bunch of cops on his tail. Duo's gloved hands clenched on the steering wheel and he grit his teeth. He didn't admit it in front of Trowa but he knew that they were screwed. They'd only had two things going for them up until now: the fact that no one knew who they were and that no one knew where they were, but now one of those things was gone and only him pulling this plan off successfully was going to get them out of it. Getting off Earth was easy enough but bypassing the security check to get into L2 could only be done by paying off the Spacers in charge at the station and this was going to get them the money for it.

Going alone was dicey but he knew Trowa would have never agreed. It was an unnecessary risk in his eyes and he would have taken his chances with the Spacers before possibly getting in trouble on Earth. Duo lit another cigarette and inhaled deeply; he wanted to enjoy it just in case it was the last one he would ever get to have.

He got to his destination fairly quickly and Duo patted himself down to make sure he had everything that he needed before cutting the engine and getting out of the van. It was one of the smaller branches of Lendholm Trust and Save and he knew from previous visits that there were only two guards on duty during the day and that one of them took an hour lunch break right about now. He pulled up the hood of his black jacket and grinned to himself before looking up and down the street. The only things on the block were a few apartment buildings, a dance studio and restaurant that didn't open until six in the evening. Everyone was either at work or at school so it was pretty deserted. Perfect.

The first guard was standing near the ATMs between the front entrance and the inner entrance. The inner entrance led to the tellers and there was another side door that probably led to a storage closet. Duo entered casually and nodded at the guy as he situated himself in front of an ATM. "Catch the game last night?" Duo asked casually as he slid his tranq-gun out of his sleeve.

"Yeah I caught it and it was such a disgrace that I don't even want to talk about it," The guy grumbled good naturedly. He turned towards the main entrance and started to say more but Duo was behind him and pricking him with the tranq-gun before he could finish. "Yeah, I don't really want to talk about it either," Duo said cheerfully and slid the gun back in his sleeve before quickly dragging the guy towards the storage closet. He took his jammer out of his pocket and slid it into the keyhole. The lock clicked after a few experimental twists and Duo shoved the guard inside and locked it behind him. So far, so good but Duo knew from experience that this type of thing was rarely ever this easy.

There were two tellers, both female, and a pissed off looking, grungy, Asian guy who was standing in the front. "Listen-- I know I have more than that in my account and I don't know what all of these fees are for, so--"

"I'll explain them to you, Mr. Yuy if you just give me a moment--"

The Asian kid cut her off again and Duo turned away as he checked out the other teller. She was older and looked a lot more likely to do something stupid so Duo approached her first. She looked him up and down and her eyes immediately turned suspicious. "Can I help you?"

Duo nodded earnestly and leaned on the desk as he slid his tranq-gun out again. "Yes if you could just pass out really fast---" He leaned forward and stabbed her neck with it, hitting the plunger as a panicked scream escaped her throat. "--that would be great. Thanks!" He grinned when she hit the floor and pulled his Glock out, leveling it at the Asian guy who had frozen in place.

"Oh my God, Oh my--"

"Oh shut the hell up before I get really annoyed and shoot you," Duo complained mildly at the other teller. "I promised I wouldn't kill anyone today so that would be really unfortunate. So if you could just be a dear and give me all the money you have in that little drawer right ther--yes, that one! Good girl! --that would be GREAT!" Duo beamed and watched the frightened teller scramble around out of the corner of his eye, even as he kept his gun trained on the Asian guy.

"H-here it is. Please! Please don't shoot me! I have a family and--" She broke off and began crying.

Duo rolled his eyes and grabbed the guy by the hair. "Take a seat, buddy. No funny stuff unless you want me to put a bullet between those pretty blue eyes." He backed towards the teller and grabbed the plastic bag she was shoving across the desk before pricking her with the tranquilizer gun. The Asian guy didn't seem particularly interested in playing hero so Duo started to dash out the door when it swung open and three people entered. A blonde couple and an older guy in uniform.

"Fuckin' A!" Duo dodged behind one of the teller booths as the second guard pulled out his gun. Duo bit down on his lower lip to swallow the scream of pain that tried to get out when he took a shot in the arm.

"Drop your gun!" The guard bellowed.

Duo rolled his eyes. Yeah. That was definitely going to happen. He ignored the searing pain in his arm and rolled to the side as he aimed and shot the guard in the kneecap. There was an explosion of blood and two screams. One from the guard and another from the blonde girl who was backing towards the door. "Kick the gun across the room or I'll blow your cute girlfriend's head off," Duo snarled at the blonde man and aimed his gun at the girl's head. "NOW." The man quickly kicked the gun away.

"Please, we're not involved in this in any way--"

"Shut the HELL up," Duo yelled. He knew any moment that there were going to be sirens and there was no way in hell he was getting out of this with the money when one of his arms was useless and the other one was holding the gun. He licked his lips and glanced at the annoyingly calm Asian guy. "Pick up the bag of money and go towards the door."

The Asian guy didn't move.

Duo sneered and grabbed the blonde man, pressing his gun to the side of his head. The blonde girl screamed again and lunged forward, but Duo kicked her away from him and she went slamming into the wall. "Do it or I'll blow his fucking brains out."

The Asian guy hesitated for a long, tense moment before getting up and grabbing the bag. "Now what?"

Duo licked his lips again and swung the blonde guy around as he backed out the door. "Follow me to the black van in front. Do anything stupid and I swear to God, this guy's brains is gonna be splattered all over his Armani suit."

The blonde guy tensed but allowed himself to be pulled out of the bank. "Everything will be fine, Relena! Just--just stay there and everything will be fine!" The man called to the blonde girl in a shaky voice.

...Relena!? Duo's eyes snapped to the girl again and recognition sparked almost immediately. Shit. Good thing he hadn't shot her like he'd originally wanted to. He'd be fucked all the way around.

They got outside and surprisingly the street was still deserted although faint sirens could be heard coming closer. Someone had probably heard the gunshots and called the police. Duo gripped the guy's shoulder and looked around quickly. There was an older man leaning against a black limo, reading a magazine. The man looked up and his eyes widened but before he could say anything, the blonde man held up his hands. "Just get in the limo and I'll be fine, Hazier!"

Duo smirked as the old man scurried inside and edged towards the back of the truck. "Open the door and get inside; drop the bag and get in the driver's seat. Do anything stupid and I swear to God--"

"I got it," The Asian guy snarled and did as he was told.

Duo smirked at the driver through the limo's windshield and used his bad arm to prick the blonde man with the tranq-gun. The blonde went slack immediately and Duo awkwardly shoved him inside of the van before jumping in and slamming the doors shut. "Now fucking drive like your life depends on it!" Duo yelled and leaned against the side of the van as he aimed the gun at the unconscious man.

"I kind of think it is right now," The Asian guy snapped and took off down the street.

Duo slid down to the van's floor and panted harshly as he kept the gun trained on the blonde. "If you even think of flagging anyone down--"

"Yeah, you'll blow his fucking head off. I got it the first time."

For a moment, Duo had the urge to laugh hysterically and after another moment... he gave in.

Well that plan had been completely shot to hell.

Trowa was going to flip.

**TBC**


	3. Chapter Two

**Chapter Two**

"I thought you said you 'knew a guy'." Trowa stared down at their hostages with a bemused expression; which was really just a subtle arch of his thin eyebrows and a slight turn of his lips.

"I do know a guy," Duo grunted as he awkwardly undid his jacket. "His name is Eric Lendholm. He trusts and saves." His lip curled and he ripped off the sleeve of his shirt. "This fucking hurts." He poured a bottle of purified water over his arm with a shaking hand.

"Well you got shot, Duo. Did you think it would tickle?" Trowa crossed his arms over his chest and looked from the pissed off Japanese kid to the passed out suit. They were now bound and gagged and sitting in the middle of their loft.

"Would you shut up and help me out?" Duo snapped as he gestured wildly with a roll of gauze. "I can't think straight right now. I need a Percocet."

Trowa shook his head and shoved Duo down onto a stool. "Did you clean it out?"

"It's more irrigated than a fuckin' corn field in Indiana." Duo winced as Trowa poked at the wound and bit down on his lip. "You gonna wrap it or what?"

"Stop whining." He picked up the gauze and rolled a small portion up. "9mm?"

"Hell if I know!"

"You're lucky it went in and out. This isn't the time to be playing operation." He narrowed his eyes and smeared Neosporin on the rolled bit before pressing it into the wound. "This was sloppy, Maxwell," he murmured. Duo hissed but refused to cry out as Trowa carefully applied more Neosporin around the exit wound and wrapped more gauze around his arm. "You're going to get us killed."

Duo scowled and looked over at their hostages as the blonde man began to stir. "I won't let that happen. I never do." He stood up and grabbed a bottle of painkillers from the counter before downing a few dry. He met the Japanese kid's glare and almost laughed out loud. The guy had an attitude to rival his own. Duo un-gagged him and raised an eyebrow. "What's your name."

"What's yours?" The kid retorted.

"Duo, and this handsome specimen is my partner Trowa," Duo said with a forced grin. It was hard to put on the charming act when he had a fucking hole in his arm. The kid stared at him uncertainly for a moment as if he was thinking that knowing their names surely meant impending doom. "Don't worry, kiddo. Those aren't our government names so you aren't dead yet."

"How reassuring."

"Don't get him started, kid. He's a bitch when he gets shot," Trowa threw in as he watched his partner's eyes glitter dangerously. Duo's lips twitched again and he gave Trowa a long, considering look.

"Heero Yuy."

"Nice name," Duo commented blandly as he wandered over to the blonde and pulled him into a sitting position. He pulled the guy's gag off and watched his clear blue eyes dart around quickly.

"Where--"

"You're in the villain's lair, Blondie. That was the answer to your first and last question so I'll move on to mine. What's your name?"

The blue eyes moved around the room again and his mouth opened and closed before he finally answered. "Jason."

Duo smacked him in the head with his good arm and made tsking sounds. "You're either lying or unsure of your own name and I'm going to call it the former."

"His name is Quatre Raberba Winner," Trowa said dryly. "Or didn't you notice that?"

Duo ignored the last comment and studied Quatre's face. "No shit? Huh. You looked different on the magazines."

"Probably all of that airbrushing," Quatre said weakly, still disoriented from the shot. He looked from Duo to Trowa with an expression that was frightened and uncertain. What do you want with us? Ransom? I assure you--"

"I told you that was your only question and I don't plan on answering anymore." Duo waved him off and turned to Trowa, jerking his head towards the bedroom. When he followed him into the room, Duo closed the door behind him and shut his eyes briefly. "Okay, I fucked up. I know I fucked up. I don't know what we're going to do with hostages and I didn't plan on taking any when I got there. I know that I'm dragging us down deeper so please just spare me the lecture unless you can come up with something to do."

Trowa pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and flipped it open. "We have to call him."

"Shit, Trowa, he's going to--"

"Duo." The sharp tone silenced any further objections and Trowa quickly dialed the number. It rang several times before there was an answer. "We have a situation." He was silent for a long moment and one of his eyebrows raised slightly. "Ah, I see." He gave Duo a significant look and tapped his long fingers against the wall. "Both of them, for now. ... Yes. ... Yes, one of them does. ... Not in this sector. ... Ah. ... Two weeks. ... Barton, out." He flipped the phone closed and crossed his arms over his chest. "He already knew."

"How?"

"It's all over the news already and the surveillance tapes caught you on camera so the feds know that it's linked." Duo winced but Trowa waved his hand dismissively. "They already have us pinned with the murders so a bank robbery isn't going to have any more of an impact. He told us to bring them to L2 and then he'll decide what to do with them."

"What the hell? Why?"

"Who knows how he thinks, but I suspect it will be easier to ransom them on L2 than on this rock and his main concern is always money." Trowa slipped his phone back in his pocket. "The plan remains the same."

"With two fricken' hostages to slow us down all the way."

"Don't complain. It was you who got us into this mess in the first place."

"Why don't we just get rid of the kid and keep Winner?" Duo demanded. One hostage would be easier to transport than two. The thought processed as did his usual way of 'getting rid' of someone and his indifferent sneer drifted into a tired frown.

"He knows where we are and we don't have another safe location anywhere in this sector. We need this place secure until your arm is healed and we get the ship from the compound." Trowa ignored Duo's actual intent and studied his partner's drawn face. He sighed inaudibly before reaching out and caressing Duo's cheek. "Stop it."

"This sucks. This whole thing sucks," Duo muttered. "I wish we could just go back to the way we were all those years ago before we even got mixed up in any of this shit. We were supposed to be in this for a good cause and now I'm a fuckin' monster," He said darkly. "That girl... and this kid out there. Jesus I was just thinking about how good looking he was earlier and now I'm suggesting we kill him and--" He stopped abruptly and glared at the wall.

"I'm just as much of a monster as you are, Duo but this isn't the time to lament over that." Trowa tilted Duo's chin up and looked him in the eye. "We're finished with him after this."

"Swear on it?" Duo's voice was unsure as he looked at his friend with a vulnerable look in his eyes that very few people ever got to see. "Fuckin' swear on it, Trowa."

"Scout's honor," Trowa said dryly but there was a hint of a smile around his lips. He leaned forward and kissed Duo's forehead. "Now put your hard ass act back on so we can get this done."

Duo dug his fingers into Trowa's shoulders and squeezed; standing there for a long moment before he jerked back and straightened. "So what's the plan, boss? I know you got one already and obviously killing those brats ain't a part of it."

"Boss? Since when am I the boss?" Trowa cracked the door open and looked at their hostages. Heero was sitting rigidly and boring a hole in the wall with his glare while Winner looked around quickly for escape routes that he wouldn't find. However, if they actually found a way to get out of the ridiculously expensive (not that they paid for them anyway) tungsten-steel leg and arm irons, he would finally win the "Yes Duo, there are better escape artists in the world than you" bet.

"Since I've become a fuck up," Duo muttered angrily. "I swear, I didn't use to be this sloppy, did I?"

"Of course not," Trowa said coolly and shut the door again. "You're still alive, aren't you?"

"Eh, good point." Duo massaged his wounded arm and winced.

"Stop beating yourself up. I fuck up too. Remember that time on L3?" He raised an eyebrow expectantly and Duo snickered, immediately catching the reference. "Of course you do. So stop feeling sorry for yourself and fix this problem before you make it worse."

Duo smirked. "That's what I love about you, Tro. You're so fucking sensitive."

"You know where I'm sensitive." The tone was suggestive and Duo leered at him. "Anyway, like I said earlier the plan is the same as it was before."

Duo rolled his eyes. So much for a little kinky rough and tumble with hostages on the other side of the door. Oh well, he had weird fetishes anyway. "How do you propose we get them on the ship? The fuckin' feds are gonna be all over the place and Winner is not exactly low key so anyone could recognize him."

"Divide and conquer, Maxwell." Trowa tapped the door with his fingers. "But we'll get to that later. We aren't going anywhere until your arm is slightly more functional." Duo opened his mouth to object but Trowa silenced him with another look. "There should be something on the news by now."

"Of course there is since Winner is involved. I'm sure the feds are freakin' out right about now."

----------

"This was sloppy." Wufei rubbed his temples and stared at the crime scene with an annoyed expression on his face. "And I'm not just talking about our perps."

Sally shook her head. "It's like a bad movie, is what it is. Sloppy bank robbery lacking their usual finesse, they took two hostages for reasons that I cannot even begin to comprehend, we actually have surveillance tapes--"

"--But the idiot who designed the security, set up the cameras so that they hover directly above the door so the get away car is just out of view--"

"--and Winner's driver had a stroke and he's the only person we have as of now who actually saw it because Ms. Peacecraft wasn't paying attention."

"Sloppy." Wufei shook his head. "I imagine that having their pictures all over the news has made them pretty desperate to get out of dodge but why would he take two hostages?" He studied one of the prints from the surveillance tape and chewed his lower lip; a habit he only did when extremely agitated.

Officer Bradley approached hesitantly and shot a look at the brooding Wufei before turning to the more amiable Sally. "Ms. Peacecraft is ready to give her statement, Agent Po."

"Finally," Wufei scoffed under his breath.

Sally shot him a warning look before heading in the direction of the back offices in the bank. Peacecraft had been too shaken to speak before now, which was understandable considering the circumstances. They found her sitting in a plush chair by the desk with a rather impressive bruise on her face. Her dress was badly wrinkled and her eyes were red rimmed but she still managed to look professional and sophisticated. She started to stand when they entered the room but winced and sat back down. "Agents," She said politely.

"I'm Agent Po and this is my partner, Agent Chang. It's a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Peacecraft and I'm sorry it has to be under these circumstances." Sally and Wufei both shook her hand before getting down to business. "Have you called your people?"

"Not yet but I'm sure they're on their way. I'd prefer to speak to you without my lawyer speaking for me." She cradled her bruised face for a moment. "Will you be able to help Quatre?"

"Why don't you tell us exactly what happened before we get to that," Wufei said briskly. "So far you're the only person who appears to be able to give us a concrete statement."

"What about the other witnesses? The tellers and the guard?"

"The tellers were unconscious through most of the incident and the guard passed out after he was shot. We have surveillance tapes but they are grainy and without audio. As of now your statement will carry the most weight."

Relena nodded and started to speak but she stopped suddenly and her hand flew up to her mouth. "What about Hazier? He wasn't hurt was he?"

"Mr. Khan had a stroke at some point during the incident. He's at Creedmoor Medical Center now and he's expected to live." Wufei flipped open his notepad and stared at Relena impatiently. Sally narrowed her eyes at her partner but didn't say anything.

"Oh no, that poor man." Relena squeezed her hands into fists before taking a deep breath. "As you can tell from the surveillance cameras, Quatre and I entered the bank while the robbery was already in progress. The bank security guard had entered with us because I believe he was returning from a lunch break. As we entered he had made a comment regarding a second guard's whereabouts." Relena paused and closed her eyes. "When we entered, the guard immediately opened fire on the robber and I believe he was hit, but he shot the guard anyway." She stopped and looked at them. "Can you tell on the tapes if he was really hit? Maybe if he's injured--"

"The equipment that this branch uses is very outdated so the cameras are not set up to capture everything that happened. However he appears to have been shot in the shoulder area," Sally told her.

Relena nodded and looked slightly disappointed that he hadn't been shot in the heart. "The robber told Quatre to kick the guard's gun across the room or he would... he would blow my brains out." She shivered slightly. "Quatre did it and then the robber told the guy sitting by the tellers to get the bag of money."

Wufei frowned. "Did the two of them speak before that?"

Relena shook her head. "No, the guy was just sitting there silently until then. He didn't really do or say anything the entire time except sit there and watch. Now that I think about it, he didn't even appear to be scared or concerned with the situation."

Wufei and Sally exchanged significant looks before encouraging Relena to go on. She frowned and shrugged her shoulders. "After that, the robber grabbed Quatre and I attempted to lunge at him but he kicked me into the wall and I slammed my head on the floor." She touched her face again gingerly. "I blacked out and when I came to, everyone was gone and the police had already arrived. The medics said I have a concussion and a few bruised ribs from where he kicked me."

Wufei scribbled some things down in his notepad. "Okay, Ms. Peacecraft that's all we need from you at the moment but we will probably get in touch--"

"Oh no you don't!" Relena shot to her feet despite the grunt of pain that escaped her lips. "You don't brush me off like some civilian! Quatre is still out there and he'll probably be killed by this maniac! I want to know what you're going to do about it!"

Wufei stared at her coolly and tucked his pad into his pocket. "We're going to do everything we can," He said in a voice that was less than comforting.

"Oh how reassuring," Relena snapped. "If you had done everything you could have done in the first place, this guy would already be in jail. I recognized him from the news, you know and I heard the other officers talking about it. This is the same guy who committed those murders."

"Very good," Wufei said flatly. "Now as I said, we will contact you--"

"How dare you speak to me in that manner," She hissed. "I am not some idiot that you can just brush off and I won't be kept in the dark. In case you have forgotten--"

"I know who you are, Ms. Peacecraft and that doesn't give you authority over me or any of my officers. Now if you'll excuse us--" Wufei started to turn but Relena grabbed his arm and tried to jerk him back around which caused her to lose balance and fall back in the chair with a pained moan. Wufei didn't make a move to help her but Sally rushed to her side.

"Sweetheart I know you're very upset--"

"Please do not patronize me," Relena said coldly and batted Sally's hands away.

Sally's lips twitched and she crossed her arms over her chest. Well apparently the rumors were not true. Relena Peacecraft was anything but a girly little push over. "Okay then. Ms. Peacecraft we're going to do everything we can to ensure Mr. Winner's safety. This was already a priority case but when hostages are involved, you better believe that we do everything we can to help them. Civilian casualties are something that this organization does not tolerate as I'm sure you must know since your brother is one of the founders." She narrowed her eyes. "We know that you're very tired, you're very sore and very worried because Mr. Winner is a good friend of yours. Please understand that everyone will be doing everything we can and that we will keep you informed, but pointing fingers is not going to get that done any faster and neither will throwing your weight around."

Relena bristled but remained silent.

"I also want you to understand that complaining to Captain Une about what you may believe is incompetence would be a very bad thing. Agent Chang and I are the top agents on this case and for us to be replaced now would be a very grave mistake. It has taken us a long time to get to the point we are at now and for new agents to take over would mean they would start again from scratch. I'm sure you don't want this to be prolonged any more than we do," Sally went on.

"I never said I would do that," Relena snapped.

"But I'm sure the thought crossed your mind," Sally said with an arched eyebrow. "Now please, go home and get some rest and we will inform your people as we make headway in this investigation. No one is trying to brush you off or disrespect you, Ms. Peacecraft but we do need to do our job and we can't do that if you are in the way."

Relena stared at her for a moment before sighing and standing up awkwardly. "I understand, Agent Po and it has been a very bad day. Please do all you can to help Quatre; he's very dear to me. And if you have to worry about anyone complaining to Une about incompetence; it's his sisters." She nodded stiffly. "I believe your offices have my contact information and I would prefer you call me directly instead of going through 'my people'. Good day, Agent Po." She limped towards the door while holding her side and ignored Wufei coldly.

Sally watched her go before turning to her partner with a frown. "What the hell was that?"

"What was what?" Wufei countered with a glare.

Sally opened her mouth to say something before shaking her head and giving up. Wufei's attitude was really just a lost cause. "You need to work on your bedside manner, Chang. You really do."

Wufei snorted and started out of the room. "Dealing with hysterical women wasn't in my training."

"I'd hardly have called her 'hysterical'," Sally said dryly. "She was upset and it's very understandable. Apparently she and Winner are supposed to be dating or something according to those magazines."

"I thought Winner was a queer," Wufei said blandly.

Sally threw him a dirty look. "A 'queer'?"

Wufei sighed in exasperation. "Fine. Homosexual. Can we get on with the case now?" He shook his head and made his way to the small security room. "I want another look at that tape."

"The Yuy kid?" Sally asked as they wedged themselves in the closet sized space.

"Yes. The teller said his name was Heero Yuy. He was supposedly asking about some questionable fees in his account and making a big fuss over it." Wufei rewound the tape and narrowed his eyes. "It may have been a diversion for the other guy while he knocked out the first guard."

Sally made a 'hmm' sound and studied the video. "He is awfully calm about the whole thing but for some reason I don't get the impression that he was involved. It's worth looking into though."

Wufei grunted and stuck his head out the door. "Bradley! Get me everything you can on this Yuy kid!" He ducked back in the room and saw that Sally had paused the tape on the part where the perp had his gun trained on Yuy. "At this point I'll look into any lead I can get my hands on."

_To be continued.._


End file.
